What It Will Take: Rejecting Dead-Ends and False Friends in the Fight for the Earth

419 Pages·2016·2.41 MB·English

by  Carol Dansereau

What It
Will Take
What It
Will Take
REJECTING DEAD-ENDS
AND FALSE FRIENDS IN THE
FIGHT FOR THE EARTH
• • •
Carol Dansereau
Copyright © 2016 Carol Dansereau
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1523897007
ISBN 13: 9781523897001
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016902613
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
North Charleston, South Carolina
For
Emily and Corey
Sammy, Gabriel, and Ruben
Julia, Sean, Sophie, Gen, Gabe and Ryan
And for
Brucie
[W]e must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to
the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are
forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question,
“Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you
begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the
economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask
that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m
simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions
about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged
beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an
edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that
questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with
this you begin to ask the question, “Who owns the oil?” You begin to ask
the question, “Who owns the iron ore?” You begin to ask the question,
“Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-
thirds water?”
Martin Luther King, August 16, 1967
Table of Contents
PART I Starting Points
Chapter 1 Urgent Questions
Chapter 2 Tales from the Trenches
PART II How Are We Doing?
Chapter 3 Can We Talk?
Chapter 4 Pesticides
Chapter 5 Broader Toxic Pollution Issues
Chapter 6 The Global Environmental Meltdown
Chapter 7 A Different Call to Action
PART III What We Are Up Against
Chapter 8 The Rich and the Non-Rich
Chapter 9 Influencing Elections
Chapter 10 Influencing Legislation
Chapter 11 Influencing How Laws Are Implemented
Chapter 12 Wielding Power Internationally
Chapter 13 Influencing Scientific Evidence and Public Access to It
Chapter 14 Public Relations: Influencing Perceptions
Chapter 15 Other Things Money Buys
Chapter 16 Controlling Resources, Controlling Lives
Chapter 17 The Giant Who Calls the Shots
PART IV Not Fighting Back Effectively
Chapter 18 The Influence of Funders
Chapter 19 Self-Defeating Behaviors: An Overview
Chapter 20 The First Three Behaviors
Chapter 21 Problematic Behavior Number 4 Tactical Errors
Chapter 22 Problematic Behavior Number 5 Aiming Too Low and
Compromising Too Readily
Chapter 23 Problematic Behavior Number 6 Overstating Accomplishments
Chapter 24 Problematic Behavior Number 7 Demophilia
Chapter 25 Beyond Environmental Issues
Chapter 26 Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
PART V How to Defeat the Giant
Chapter 27 Beyond Capitalism
Chapter 28 Hope
Chapter 29 An Economic Democracy Agenda
Chapter 30 What We Need to Do
Chapter 31 The Path Forward
Chapter 32 Jobs in a World Controlled by the Wealthy Few
Acknowledgments
Notes
PART I
Starting Points
• • •
CHAPTER 1